English

Pronunciation

• IPA : /miːn/

Etymology 1

Old English mænan , "to mean", "to allude to". Confer Durch meenen , German meinen . Cognate with "mind" and German Minne , "love".

Verb

to mean (meant, meant)

1. to want to say something

   I don't understand what you mean, I'm afraid.

2. to signify

   What does this hieroglyph mean?

3. to intend

   I didn't mean to hurt you.

4. to stand behind what one says

   Does she really mean what she said to him last night?

Translations

• Dutch: menen
• Esperanto: voli diri (1); signifi (2), intenci (3)
• Finnish: tarkoittaa (1, 2), aikoa (3)
• French: vouloir dire (1); signifier (2)
• German: meinen (1,4), bedeuten (2), beabsichtigen (3)
• Indonesian: berarti, artinya, bermaksud , maksudnya
• Ido: signifikar
• Interlingua: voler dicer (1); significar (2); intender , haber le intention de (3); mantener un opinion (4)
• Italian: voler dire (1); significare (2)
• Japanese: 意味 する (いみ する, imi-suru), 意図 する (いとする, ito-suru)
• Portuguese: querer dizer (1); significar (2); tencionar , ter a intenção de (3); manter uma opinião , falar sério (4)

Etymology 2

Old English gemæne . Confer Dutch gemeen , German gemein , Gothic gamains . Cognate with Latin communis .

Adjective

mean (meaner, meanest)

1. not nice at all
2. low in quality; inferior.
3. (slang): hard to cope with.

   He hits a mean backhand.

Translations

• Chinese: 卑鄙
• Dutch: gemeen (1,2), boosaardig (1), gemiddelde (2)
• Esperanto: kruela (1), malafabla (1), malbonkvalita (2)
• Finnish: ilkeä (1)
• French: inférieur (2)
• German: gemein (1); mittelmäßig (2), böse (1,3)
• Greek: μέσος m, μέση f, μέσο n
• Indonesian: buruk hati , kikir , pemarah , rata-rata
• Interlingua: mal, perverse, contemptibile (1); inferior (2); insuperabile , superior (3)
• Italian: inferiore (2)
• Japanese: 意地悪 (いじわる , ijiwaru) (1), 悪い (わるい , warui), 平均 (へいきん , heikin), 平均的 (へいきんてき , heikinteki)
• Portuguese: mal m & f, perverso m, perversa f (1); inferior m & f (2); médio m, média f (3); insuperável m & f, superior m & f
• Russian: средний m, средняя f, среднее n
• Spanish: malo m, mala f

Related terms

• meanie
• meanness
• meany

Etymology 3

Old French meien (French moyen ), Late Latin medianus , from medius . Cognate with "mid"

Adjective

mean

1. having an intermediate value; based on an average; as, mean distance , mean time , mean solar time , mean sun .

Translations

• Esperanto: meza
• Finnish: keski-
• French: moyen
• German: Mittel-
• Interlingua: medie
• Italian: medio

Noun

mean (plural: means)

1. (statistics) an intermediate value based on some measure of central tendency , often an average or the arithmetic mean. (See the related Wikipedia article )
2. See the noun means

Translations

• Dutch: gemiddelde (1)
• Finnish: keskiarvo (1)
• French: moyenne f (1)
• German: Mittel n (1)
• Indonesian: rata-rata (1)
• Interlingua: media (1)
• Italian: media f (1)
• Japanese: 平均 (へいきん , heikin) (1), 平均値 (へいきんち , heikinchi) (1)
• Portuguese: média f (1)

See also

• average
• means
• median
• mode